YEREVAN (Armenpress) — President of the National Assembly Galust Sahakyan, Hermine Naghdalyan, National Assembly deputies and relatives of the assassinated political figures paid tribute to the memory of October 27 parliament massacre victims at Yerablur Military Pantheon.
Those present laid flowers at the monument memoralizing Karen Demirchyan, Vazgen Sargsyan, Yuri Bakhshyan, Armenak Armenakyan, Ruben Miroyan, Mikayel Kotanyan, Henrik Abrahamyan and Leonard Petrosyan.
“I have repeated for years that the October 27 crime will be exposed some day. It depends on our work, the power of our state. Such cases are not exposed by political will but by legal documentations which do not exist at this point,” Sahakyan said.
Asked why President Serge Sargisian and Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan did not attend Yerablur Military Pantheon, Sahakyan answered, “I do not think that there is prescribed day and hour for who and when should attend here. The President of the Republic is on a working visit,” Sahakyan stated, adding that it is a tragedy and there are people for whom the subsequent grief is particularly deep rooted.
Armenian parliament shooting, commonly known in Armenia as October 27 was a terrorist attack on the Armenian National Assembly in the capital Yerevan on October 27, 1999, by a group of five armed men led by Nairi Hunanyan that, among others, killed the two de facto decision-makers in the country’s political leadership—Prime Minister Vazgen Sargisian and Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchyan. The shooting is one of the most controversial events of post-Soviet Armenian history, which led to significant changes in the country’s political landscape. It remains a subject of numerous conspiracy theories, mostly involving President Robert Kocharian, whose tenure thereafter was frequently criticized as authoritarian. Sargisian and Demirchyan were posthumously honored with National Hero of Armenia titles.
